Steampunk also refers to any of the artistic styles, clothing fashions, or subcultures that have developed from the aesthetics of steampunk fiction, Victorian-era fiction, art nouveau design, and films from the mid-20th century.[4] Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.[5]

Enclosed is a copy of my 1979 novel Morlock Night; I'd appreciate your being so good as to route it to Faren Miller, as it's a prime piece of evidence in the great debate as to who in "the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter fantasy triumvirate" was writing in the "gonzo-historical manner" first. Though of course, I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering.

Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like "steam-punks," perhaps....

The first use of the word in a title was in Paul Di Filippo's 1995 Steampunk Trilogy,[24] consisting of three short novels: "Victoria", "Hottentots", and "Walt and Emily", which, respectively, imagine the replacement of Queen Victoria by a human/newt clone, an invasion of Massachusetts by Lovecraftian monsters, and a love affair between Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.

Superficially, steampunk may resemble retrofuturism. Indeed, both sensibilities recall "the older but still modern eras in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world, one remembered as relatively innocent of industrial decline."[2]

One of steampunk’s most significant contributions is the way in which it mixes digital media with traditional handmade art forms. As scholars Rachel Bowser and Brian Croxall put it, "the tinkering and tinker-able technologies within steampunk invite us to roll up our sleeves and get to work re-shaping our contemporary world."[25] In this respect, steampunk bears more in common with DIY craft and making.[26]

Aspects of steampunk design emphasise a balance between form and function.[28] In this it is like the Arts and Crafts Movement. But John Ruskin, William Morris, and the other reformers in the late nineteenth century rejected machines and industrial production. On the other hand, steampunk enthusiasts present a "non-luddite critique of technology".[29]

Various modern utilitarian objects have been modified by enthusiasts into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style.[14][30] Examples include computer keyboards and electric guitars.[31] The goal of such redesigns is to employ appropriate materials (such as polished brass, iron, wood, and leather) with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era,[22][32] rejecting the aesthetic of industrial design.[28]

In 1994, the Paris Metro station at Arts et Métiers was redesigned by Belgian artist Francois Schuiten in steampunk style, to honor the works of Jules Verne. The station is reminiscent of a submarine, sheathed in brass with giant cogs in the ceiling and portholes that look out onto fanciful scenes.[33][34]

The artist group Kinetic Steam Works[35] brought a working steam engine to the Burning Man festival in 2006 and 2007.[36] The group's founding member, Sean Orlando, created a Steampunk Tree House (in association with a group of people who would later form the Five Ton Crane Arts Group[37]) that has been displayed at a number of festivals.[38][39] The Steampunk Tree House is now permanently installed at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware.[40]

The Neverwas Haul is a three-story, self-propelled mobile art vehicle built to resemble a Victorian house on wheels. Designed by Shannon O’Hare, it was built by volunteers in 2006 and presented at the Burning Man festival from 2006 through 2015.[41] When fully built, the Haul propelled itself at a top speed of 5 miles per hour and required a crew of ten people to operate safely. Currently, the Neverwas Haul makes her home at Obtainium Works, an "art car factory" in Vallejo, CA, owned by O’Hare and home to several other self-styled "contraptionists".[42]

In May–June 2008, multimedia artist and sculptor Paul St George exhibited outdoor interactive video installations linking London and Brooklyn, New York, in a Victorian era-styled telectroscope.[43][44] Utilizing this device, New York promoter Evelyn Kriete organised a transatlantic wave between steampunk enthusiasts from both cities,[45] prior to White Mischief'sAround the World in 80 Days steampunk-themed event.[46]

In 2009, for Questacon, artist Tim Wetherell created a large wall piece that represented the concept of the clockwork universe. This steel artwork contains moving gears, a working clock, and a movie of the moon's terminator in action. The 3D moon movie was created by Antony Williams.[47]

From October 2009 through February 2010, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, hosted the first major exhibition of steampunk art objects, curated and developed by New York artist and designer Art Donovan,[48] who also exhibited his own "electro-futuristic" lighting sculptures, and presented by Dr. Jim Bennett, museum director.[49] From redesigned practical items to fantastical contraptions, this exhibition showcased the work of eighteen steampunk artists from across the globe. The exhibition proved to be the most successful and highly attended in the museum's history and attracted more than eighty thousand visitors. The event was detailed in the official artist's journal The Art of Steampunk, by curator Donovan.[50]

In November 2010, The Libratory Steampunk Art Gallery[51] was opened by Damien McNamara in Oamaru, New Zealand. Created from papier-mâché to resemble a large subterranean cave and filled with industrial equipment from yesteryear, rayguns, and general steampunk quirks, its purpose is to provide a place for steampunkers in the region to display artwork for sale all year long. A year later, a more permanent gallery, Steampunk HQ, was opened in the former Meeks Grain Elevator Building across the road from The Woolstore, and has since become a notable tourist attraction for Oamaru.[52]

In 2012, the Mobilis in Mobili: An Exhibition of Steampunk Art and Appliance made its debut. Originally located at New York City's Wooster Street Social Club (itself the subject of the television series NY Ink), the exhibit featured working steampunk tattoo systems designed by Bruce Rosenbaum, of ModVic and owner of the Steampunk House,[53] Joey "Dr. Grymm" Marsocci,[31] and Christopher Conte.[54] with different approaches.[27] "[B]icycles, cell phones, guitars, timepieces and entertainment systems"[54] rounded out the display.[31] The opening night exhibition featured a live performance by steampunk band Frenchy and the Punk.[55]

Steampunk fashion has no set guidelines but tends to synthesize modern styles with influences from the Victorian era. Such influences may include bustles, corsets, gowns, and petticoats; suits with waistcoats, coats, top hats[56] and bowler hats (themselves originating in 1850 England), tailcoats and spats; or military-inspired garments. Steampunk-influenced outfits are usually accented with several technological and "period" accessories: timepieces, parasols, flying/driving goggles,[57] and ray guns. Modern accessories like cell phones or music players can be found in steampunk outfits, after being modified to give them the appearance of Victorian-era objects. Post-apocalyptic elements, such as gas masks, ragged clothing, and tribal motifs, can also be included. Aspects of steampunk fashion have been anticipated by mainstream high fashion, the Lolita and aristocrat styles, neo-Victorianism, and the romantic goth subculture.[13][58][59]

In 2005, Kate Lambert, known as "Kato", founded the first steampunk clothing company, "Steampunk Couture",[60] mixing Victorian and post-apocalyptic influences. In 2013, IBM predicted, based on an analysis of more than a half million public posts on message boards, blogs, social media sites, and news sources, "that 'steampunk,' a subgenre inspired by the clothing, technology and social mores of Victorian society, will be a major trend to bubble up and take hold of the retail industry".[61][62] Indeed, high fashion lines such as Prada,[63] Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Chanel,[64] and Christian Dior[62] had already been introducing steampunk styles on the fashion runways. And in episode 7 of Lifetime's "Project Runway: Under the Gunn" reality series, contestants were challenged to create avant-garde "steampunk chic" looks.[65]America's Next Top Model tackled Steampunk fashion in a 2012 episode where models competed in a Steampunk themed photo shoot, posing in front of a steam train while holding a live owl.[66][unreliable source]

The educational book Elementary BASIC - Learning to Program Your Computer in BASIC with Sherlock Holmes (1981), by Henry Singer and Andrew Ledgar, may have been the first fictional work to depict the use of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in an adventure story. The instructional book, aimed at young programming students, depicts Holmes using the engine as an aid in his investigations, and lists programs that perform simple data processing tasks required to solve the fictional cases. The book even describes a device that allows the engine to be used remotely, over telegraph lines, as a possible enhancement to Babbage's machine. Companion volumes—Elementary Pascal - Learning to Program Your Computer in Pascal with Sherlock Holmes and From Baker Street to Binary - An Introduction to Computers and Computer Programming with Sherlock Holmes—were also written.

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling's novel The Difference Engine (1990) is often credited with bringing about widespread awareness of steampunk.[16][68] This novel applies the principles of Gibson and Sterling's cyberpunk writings to an alternative Victorian era where Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage's proposed steam-powered mechanical computer, which Babbage called a difference engine (a later, more general-purpose version was known as an analytical engine), was actually built, and led to the dawn of the information age more than a century "ahead of schedule". This setting was different from most steampunk settings in that it takes a dim and dark view of this future, rather than the more prevalent utopian versions.

Younger readers have also been targeted by steampunk themes, by authors such as Philip Reeve and Scott Westerfeld.[70] Reeve's quartet Mortal Engines is set far in Earth's future where giant moving cities consume each other in a battle for resources, a concept Reeve coined as Municipal Darwinism. Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy is set during an alternate First World War fought between the "clankers" (Central Powers), who use steam technology, and "darwinists" (Allied Powers), who use genetically engineered creatures instead of machines.

"Mash-ups" are also becoming increasingly popular in books aimed at younger readers, mixing steampunk with other genres. Suzanne Lazear's Aether Chronicles series mixes steampunk with faeries, and The Unnaturalists, by Tiffany Trent, combines steampunk with mythological creatures and alternate history.[71]

While most of the original steampunk works had a historical setting,[citation needed] later works often place steampunk elements in a fantasy world with little relation to any specific historic era. Historical steampunk tends to be science fiction that presents an alternate history; it also contains real locales and persons from history with alternative fantasy technology. "Fantasy-world steampunk", such as China Miéville's Perdido Street Station, Alan Campbell'sScar Night, and Stephen Hunt's Jackelian novels, on the other hand, presents steampunk in a completely imaginary fantasy realm, often populated by legendary creatures coexisting with steam-era and other anachronistic technologies. However, the works of China Miéville and similar authors are sometimes referred to as belonging to the "New Weird" rather than steampunk.

Self-described author of "far-fetched fiction" Robert Rankin has increasingly incorporated elements of steampunk into narrative worlds that are both Victorian and re-imagined contemporary. In 2009, he was made a Fellow of the Victorian Steampunk Society.[72]

Since the 1990s, the application of the steampunk label has expanded beyond works set in recognisable historical periods, to works set in fantasy worlds that rely heavily on steam- or spring-powered technology.[16] One of the earliest short stories relying on steam-powered flying machines is "The Aerial Burglar" of 1844.[73] An example from juvenile fiction is The Edge Chronicles by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.

The gnomes and goblins in World of Warcraft also have technological societies that could be described as steampunk,[76] as they are vastly ahead of the technologies of men, but still run on steam and mechanical power.

The Dwarves of the Elder Scrolls series, described therein as a race of Elves called the Dwemer, also use steam powered machinery, with gigantic brass-like gears, throughout their underground cities. However, magical means are used to keep ancient devices in motion despite the Dwemer's ancient disappearance.[77]

Kaja Foglio introduced the term "Gaslight Romance",[20]:78gaslamp fantasy, which John Clute and John Grant define as "steampunk stories ... most commonly set in a romanticised, smoky, 19th-century London, as are Gaslight Romances. But the latter category focuses nostalgically on icons from the late years of that century and the early years of the 20th century—on Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and even Tarzan—and can normally be understood as combining supernatural fiction and recursive fantasy, though some gaslight romances can be read as fantasies of history."[80] Author/artist James Richardson-Brown[81] coined the term steamgoth to refer to steampunk expressions of fantasy and horror with a "darker" bent.

Mary Shelley's The Last Man, set near the end of the 21st century after a plague had brought down civilization, was probably the ancestor of post-apocalyptic steampunk literature. Post-apocalyptic steampunk is set in a world where some cataclysm has precipitated the fall of civilization and steam power is once again ascendant, such as in Hayao Miyazaki's post-apocalyptic anime Future Boy Conan (1978),[78] where a war fought with superweapons has devastated the planet. Robert Brown's novel, The Wrath of Fate (as well as much of Abney Park's music) is set in A Victorianesque world where an apocalypse was set into motion by a time-traveling mishap. Cherie Priest's Boneshaker series is set in a world where a zombie apocalypse happened during the Civil War era. The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling is set in a post-apocalyptic future in which a meteor shower in 1878 caused the collapse of Industrialized civilization. The movie 9 (which might be better classified as "stitchpunk" but was largely influenced by steampunk)[82] is also set in a post-apocalyptic world after a self-aware war machine ran amok. Steampunk Magazine even published a book called A Steampunk's Guide to the Apocalypse, about how steampunks could survive should such a thing actually happen.

In general, this category includes any recent science fiction that takes place in a recognizable historical period (sometimes an alternate history version of an actual historical period) in which the Industrial Revolution has already begun, but electricity is not yet widespread, "usually Britain of the early to mid-nineteenth century or the fantasized Wild West-era United States",[83] with an emphasis on steam- or spring-propelled gadgets. The most common historical steampunk settings are the Victorian and Edwardian eras, though some in this "Victorian steampunk" category are set as early as the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and as late as the end of World War I.

"Historical" steampunk usually leans more towards science fiction than fantasy, but a number of historical steampunk stories have incorporated magical elements as well. For example, Morlock Night, written by K. W. Jeter, revolves around an attempt by the wizard Merlin to raise King Arthur to save the Britain of 1892 from an invasion of Morlocks from the future.[16]

Paul Guinan's Boilerplate, a "biography" of a robot in the late 19th century, began as a website that garnered international press coverage when people began believing that Photoshop images of the robot with historic personages were real.[90] The site was adapted into the illustrated hardbound book Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel, which was published by Abrams in October 2009.[91] Because the story was not set in an alternative history, and in fact contained accurate information about the Victorian era,[92] some[specify] booksellers referred to the tome as "historical steampunk".

Fictional settings inspired by Asian rather than Western history have been called "silkpunk". The term appears to originate with the author Ken Liu, who defined it as "a blend of science fiction and fantasy [that] draws inspiration from classical East Asian antiquity", with a "technology vocabulary (...) based on organic materials historically important to East Asia (bamboo, paper, silk) and seafaring cultures of the Pacific (coconut, feathers, coral)", rather than the brass and leather associated with steampunk.[93] Other authors whose work has been described as silkpunk are JY Yang[94] and Elizabeth Bear.

Joshua Pfeiffer (of Vernian Process) is quoted as saying, "As for Paul Roland, if anyone deserves credit for spearheading Steampunk music, it is him. He was one of the inspirations I had in starting my project. He was writing songs about the first attempt at manned flight, and an Edwardian airship raid in the mid-80s long before almost anyone else...."[99]Thomas Dolby is also considered one of the early pioneers of retro-futurist (i.e., Steampunk and Dieselpunk) music.[100][101]Amanda Palmer was once quoted as saying, "Thomas Dolby is to Steampunk what Iggy Pop was to Punk!"[102]

The BBC series Doctor Who also incorporates steampunk elements. During season 14 of the show (in 1976), the formerly futuristic looking interior set was replaced with a Victorian-styled wood-panel and brass affair.[103] In the 1996 American co-production, the TARDIS interior was re-designed to resemble an almost Victorian library with the central control console made up of an eclectic array of anachronistic objects. Modified and streamlined for the 2005 revival of the series, the TARDIS console continued to incorporate steampunk elements, including a Victorian typewriter and gramophone. Several storylines can be classed as steampunk, for example: The Evil of the Daleks (1966), wherein Victorian scientists invent a time travel device.[104]

The 1982 American TV series Q.E.D. is set in Edwardian England, stars Sam Waterston as Professor Quentin Everett Deverill (from whose initials, by which he is primarily known, the series title is derived, initials which also stand for the Latin phrase quod erat demonstrandum, which translates as "which was to be demonstrated"). The Professor is an inventor and scientific detective, in the mold of Sherlock Holmes.

The plot of the Soviet film Kin-dza-dza! (1986) centers on a desert planet, depleted of its resources, where an impoverished dog-eat-dog society uses steam-punk machines, the movements and functions of which defy earthly logic.

In making his 1986 Japanese film Castle in the Sky, Hayao Miyazaki was heavily influenced by steampunk culture, the film featuring various air ships and steam-powered contraptions as well as a mysterious island that floats through the sky, accomplished not through magic as in most stories, but instead by harnessing the physical properties of a rare crystal—analogous to the lodestone used in the Laputa of Swift'sGulliver's Travels—augmented by massive propellers, as befitting the Victorian motif.[105]

Steamboy (2004) is a Japanese animated action film directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira). It is a retro science-fiction epic set in a Steampunk Victorian England. It features steamboats, trains, airships and inventors.

Despite leaning more towards gothic influences, the "parallel reality" of Meanwhile City, within the 2009 film Franklyn, contains many steampunk themes, such as costumery, architecture, minimal use of electricity (with a preference for gaslight), and absence of modern technology (such as there being no motorised vehicles or advanced weaponry, and the manual management of information with no use of computers).

The 2009–2014 Syfy television series Warehouse 13 features many steampunk-inspired objects and artifacts, including computer designs created by steampunk artisan Richard Nagy, a.k.a. "Datamancer".[107]

The 2010 episode of the TV series Castle entitled "Punked" (which first aired on October 11, 2010) prominently features the steampunk subculture and uses Los Angeles-area steampunks (such as the League of STEAM) as extras.[108]

The Legend of Korra, a 2012–2014 Nickelodeon animated series, incorporates steampunk elements in an industrialized world with East Asian themes.
The Penny Dreadful (2014) television series is a Gothic Victorian fantasy series with steampunk props and costumes.

Dishonored (2012) and Dishonored 2 (2016) are set within a fictional world with heavy steampunk influences, wherein whale oil, as opposed to coal, served as catalyst of their industrial revolution.

BioShock Infinite (2013) is a FPS game set in 1912, in a fictional city called Columbia, which uses technology to float in the sky and has many historical and religious scenes.

Code: Realize − Guardian of Rebirth (2014), a Japanese otome game for the PS Vita is set in a steampunk Victorian London, and features a cast with several historical figures with steampunk aesthetics.

Code Name S.T.E.A.M. (2015), a Japanese tactical RPG game for the 3DS sets in a steampunk fantasy version of London and where you are conscript in the strike force S.T.E.A.M. (short for Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace).

They Are Billions (2017), is a Steampunk strategy game in a post-apocalyptic setting. Players build a colony and attempt to ward off waves of zombies.

Because of the popularity of steampunk, there is a growing movement of adults that want to establish steampunk as a culture and lifestyle.[111] Some fans of the genre adopt a steampunk aesthetic through fashion,[112] home decor, music, and film. While Steampunk is considered the amalgamation of Victorian aesthetic principles with modern sensibilities and technologies,[13] it can be more broadly categorised as neo-Victorianism, described by scholar Marie-Luise Kohlke as "the afterlife of the nineteenth century in the cultural imaginary".[113] The subculture has its own magazine, blogs, and online shops.[114]

In September 2012, a panel, chaired by steampunk entertainer Veronique Chevalier and with panelists including magician Pop Hadyn and members of the steampunk performance group the League of STEAM, was held at Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo. The panel suggested that because steampunk was inclusive of and incorporated ideas from various other subcultures such as goth, neo-Victorian, and cyberpunk, as well as a growing number of fandoms, it was fast becoming a super-culture rather than a mere subculture.[115] Other steampunk notables such as Professor Elemental have expressed similar views about steampunk's inclusive diversity.[116]

Some have proposed a steampunk philosophy that incorporates punk-inspired anti-establishment sentiments typically bolstered by optimism about human potential.[117]

Steampunk became a common descriptor for homemade objects sold on the craft network Etsy between 2009 and 2011,[citation needed] though many of the objects and fashions bear little resemblance to earlier established descriptions of steampunk. Thus the craft network may not strike observers as "sufficiently steampunk" to warrant its use of the term. Comedian April Winchell, author of the book Regretsy: Where DIY meets WTF, cataloged some of the most egregious and humorous examples on her website "Regretsy".[118] The blog was popular among steampunks and even inspired a music video that went viral in the community and was acclaimed by steampunk "notables".[119]

In recent years, steampunk has also become a regular feature at San Diego Comic-Con International, with the Saturday of the four-day event being generally known among steampunks as "Steampunk Day", and culminating with a photo-shoot for the local press.[123][124] In 2010, this was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest steampunk photo shoot.[125] In 2013, Comic-Con announced four official 2013 T-shirts, one of them featuring the official Rick Geary Comic-Con toucan mascot in steampunk attire.[126] The Saturday steampunk "after-party" has also become a major event on the steampunk social calendar: in 2010, the headliners included The Slow Poisoner, Unextraordinary Gentlemen, and Voltaire, with Veronique Chevalier as Mistress of Ceremonies and special appearance by the League of STEAM;[127][128] in 2011, UXG returned with Abney Park.[129]

Steampunk has also sprung up recently at Renaissance Festivals and Renaissance Faires, in the US. Some festivals have organised events or a "Steampunk Day", while others simply support an open environment for donning steampunk attire. The Bristol Renaissance Faire in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on the Wisconsin/Illinois border, featured a Steampunk costume contest during the 2012 season, the previous two seasons having seen increasing participation in the phenomenon.[130]

Steampunk also has a growing following in the UK and Europe. The largest European event is "Weekend at the Asylum", held at The Lawn, Lincoln, every September since 2009. Organised as a not-for-profit event by the Victorian Steampunk Society, the Asylum is a dedicated steampunk event which takes over much of the historical quarter of Lincoln, England, along with Lincoln Castle. In 2011, there were over 1000 steampunks in attendance. The event features the Empire Ball, Majors Review, Bazaar Eclectica, and the international Tea Duelling final.[131][132] The Surrey Steampunk Convivial, held in New Malden, southwestern London (not far from where H. G. Wells used to live)[133] started as an annual event in 2012, and now takes place thrice a year, and has spanned three boroughs and five venues.[134] Attendees have been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 for Phil Jupitus[135] and filmed by the BBC World Service.[136] The West Yorkshire village of Haworth has held an annual Steampunk weekend since 2013,[137] on each occasion as a charity event raising funds for Sue Ryder's "Manorlands" hospice in Oxenhope.

^ abcdGrossman, Lev (December 14, 2009). "Steampunk: Reclaiming Tech for the Masses". Time. Retrieved 2009-12-10. Steampunk has been around for at least 30 years, with roots going back further. An early example is K. W. Jeter's 1979 novel Morlock Night, a sequel to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine in which the Morlocks travel back in time to invade 1890s London. Steampunk — Jeter coined the name — was already an established subgenre by 1990, when William Gibson and Bruce Sterling introduced a wider audience to it in The Difference Engine, a novel set in a Victorian England running Babbage's hardware and ruled by Lord Byron, who had escaped death in Greece. ...

^ abCollazo, Stephanie Amy (December 6, 2011). "YRB Interview: Dr. Grymm". YRB Magazine. Archived from the original on January 25, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012. a dangerous tattoo machine, fusing a tattoo machine and an arm. Using a hand massager, projector parts, tube radios, a paint sprayer and miscellaneous parts (such as a glass vial of squid ink), Marsocci created an interesting piece that looks like something you’d find in Mary Shelley’s home.

^ abCasey, Eileen (August 1, 2008). "Steampunk Art And Design Exhibits In The Hamptons". Hamptons Online. Retrieved March 6, 2012. Steampunk is not considered 'Outsider Art,' but rather a tightly focused art movement whose practitioners faithfully borrow design elements from the grand schools of architecture, science and design and employ a strict philosophy where the physical form must be as equally impressive as the function.

^Hartwell, Lane (September 8, 2007). "Best of Burning Man: Fire Dancers, Steampunk Tree House and More". Wired. Retrieved January 5, 2011. Kinetic Steam Works' Case traction engine Hortense glows on the playa. The art vehicle was named in honor of the artist and mother of Cal Tinkham, the steam enthusiast and railroad engineer who originally restored the engine.

^Xerin (March 9, 2010). "WoW: Loremaster's Corner #5: A Steampunk Paradise". Ten Ton Hammer. Retrieved 2010-05-30. World of Warcraft is almost a steampunk paradise if you look at the various technological advancements the gnomes have made. Most engines are powered by steam and there are giant airships floating around everywhere.

^Clute, John; Grant, John; Ashley, Mike; Hartwell, David G.; Westfahl, Gary (1999). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1st ed.). New York: St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 895–896. ISBN9780312198695. STEAMPUNK A term applied more to science fiction than to fantasy, though some tales described as steampunk do cross genres. ... Steampunk, on the other hand, can be best described as technofantasy that is based, sometimes quite remotely, upon technological anachronism.

^Pikedevant (Nov 29, 2011). "Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk)". Youtube. Retrieved December 4, 2011. From the video's comments: 'This is Datamancer, the steampunk keyboard guy, and I approve of this video wholeheartedly. In fact, we make this joke at the workshop almost daily. "I can't figure out how to finish off this edge". "Just glue some gears to it and call it done" haha. Well-made song and video.' - Datamancer. 'Glad to see a new contender for the chap-hop crown, and such a relevant message. I love it!' - Unwoman. 'Professor Elemental here, Just wanted to give this my most hearty applause. A fine, fine song by a true gentleman.'